Mormon opposition in GOP is nothing new, but Mitt Romney is ready with defense

Mitt Romney and his wife greet fellow politicians at the Salt Lake City conference center during the last presidential campaign. (LDS Church via Getty)

Anyone familiar with Dallas pastor/Rick Perry endorser Robert Jeffreess or the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer would not be surprised to hear them refer to Mormonism as a cult and non-Christian at the Value Voters Summit in Washington. What’s interesting about what happened this weekend is how Mitt Romney (and some others) have responded to it.

Romney has not spoken much directly about his Mormonism or affiliated with the church in his campaign materials (other than a reference to his alma mater, Brigham Young University), but he promptly stood up to Fischer’s critique of his “non-Christian” faith. His remarks argued for faith in the public square and civility in politics.

“One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line. Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind,” he said. “The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us – let no agenda, narrow our vision or drive us apart.”

This stance isn’t a mere defense of Romney’s own faith. He’s been quick to favor religious freedoms for all, including Muslims.

“Mitt Romney demonstrated that Mormons are capable of doing more than lowering our eyes and walking away,” wrote Mormon blogger Joanna Brooks in Religion Dispatches. “If we expect the GOP to confront anti-Mormon sentiment in its own ranks, Mormons need to confront people who regard us as liars and cult members–even if it’s in our own modest way.”

Despite what some influential leaders on the right are saying, the relationship “on the ground” between Mormons—the fourth largest Christian body in the U.S.—and their evangelical neighbors is better than its ever been, and the two share conservative positions on nearly all moral and social issues, according to researcher Francis Beckwith at Baylor University. Plus, the LDS Church is doing more to dialogue with other Christian bodies, including Catholics.

Very few Americans can delineate theological differences between Catholics and Protestant and Mormon beliefs. Beckwith explained that it depends how “Christian” is defined. Mormons, he said, don’t adhere to the Nicene Creed, one of the earliest confessions of Christian faith that most Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians use to identify Christianity. Members of the LDS Church considers themselves Christians, but not “creedal Christians,” since they reject not only the Nicene but all post-biblical creeds.

Because of these differences, 75 percent of Protestant pastors don’t consider Mormons to be Christians, according to a Lifeway Research poll.

People are less alarmed by those whose beliefs are profoundly different from theirs, and are more alarmed by those who believe similarly to them except for a few major points. This is what a colleague of mine calls the phenomenon of the “near Other.” The near Others are those who are very near to us in belief, or at least seem to be or claim to be; however, they remain Other because of striking differences on a handful of major issues. Thus, the near Other presents an uncanny threat of a different order than those who are different from us in wholesale ways.

Mormons and mainline Christians are near Others to each other. So are Sunnis and Shi’ites in Islam, Catholics and Protestants in Christianity, and even Christians and Muslims to an extent, in the sense that Islam claims to worship the same God as Christianity (which chaps the hide of many Christians and Jews alike). The violence between these groups historically has been staggering, both in terms of duration and body count.

So, many mainline Christians will continue to freak out about Mormonism and call it a cult even though like virtually all major religions with an identifiable founder, it’s long past the “cult of personality” phase of its development. I’m sure Mitt Romney is used to the cult talk by now, although it must be frustrating.